In Loving Memory
by SilverPedals1402
Summary: What if way back then, Tony had a best friend that wasn't Rhodey? A friend whom he knew he wanted to grow up with. Who is it, and why hasn't anyone known of this person? A certain redhead wants to know.
1. Chapter 1

**This was a little idea I came up with a couple weeks ago, but never got around to writing it. Most likely because I was too busy writing something else, but that doesn't matter. It's here now, so be happy. **

**Disclaimer: IMAA is not - who am I kidding, you already know what I was going to say!**

"This is a cute one." The redhead said, holding up the picture.

Her friend smiled as he looked at it. "I remember that!"

It was a picture of himself when he was younger. He was standing next to a woman who was obviously his mother, and even his dad was there. The one person there that the redhead hadn't recognized, was the little girl that sat beside her best friend. She had strawberry blond hair and light grey eyes.

"Who's that?" The redhead asked. "Is that Whitney?"

The boy laughed lightly to himself. "No at that age, she didn't like hanging out with me. She thought I was too boyish to hang out with."

"Then who is it?"

He smiled at her. "No one, just a childhood friend."

She didn't push the subject, for she could see he didn't want to talk about her. She didn't let his light atitude and smiles get to her. She could in his eyes that he really didn't want to be there. It must have brought some painful memories up for him.

She just wished he didn't have to hide it from her.

xXx

"So, how'd it go?" James Rhodes aka Rhodey, asked of his friends.

Both teens shrugged their shoulders, the redhead being the first to respond. "As good as packing can go. I don't see why you're bringing it up."

Rhodey shrugged his own shoulders. "I don't know, I think packing is fun. You always get to find stuff you haven't seen in forever. It's always fun finding something from when you were younger."

"Yeah, well I wasn't packing my stuff. I was helping Tony pack up his house." Pepper, the redhead, replied.

"So, that makes it all the more fun. What you find out about him?" Rhodey questioned.

"I am right here you know." Tony said waving a hand.

Pepper shook her head. "Nothing more than I already know about him."

"You're lying," Rhodey said, smirking. "You found out about something and you just don't want to tell me."

"I'm not lying!" Pepper protested.

"You're the worst liar ever...besides Tony of course."

"Hey! I'm still here you know!'

Pepper laughed, "Still not telling you."

Rhodey sighed, he had hoped she'd tell him what it was. It wasn't like he didn't know it already, he just wanted to know what she knew! Was that too much to ask?

"Come one, please?"

"Why do you want to know so bad?"

"I want to know what you learned about Tony!"

"Can you seriously not see me?" Tony asked annoyed from being ignored.

"Shh, we're talking." Both Rhodey and Pepper said.

"Fine be that way," Tony replied pulling out his ringing phone. "Dad want's me home anyways."

As Tony walked away, Pepper nudged Rhodey on the arm and whispered, "Tell you about it when we get your house."

xXx

"You want to know about Jules?" Rhodey asked, looking at the picture.

Pepper glanced down at the picture as well. "Jules?"

Rhodey pointed to the strawberry blond haired girl. "Yeah, her name was was Julie Farah. She was Tony's first friend."

"I thought you were his first friend." Pepper said.

"Nah, I met him when he was 7. Though, I was his first friend since his mom...you know."

Pepper looked down. She knew the death of his mother was a sore subject. Even when Tony wasn't with them.

"I mean Whitney and him knew each other since they were born, but they just hung out because their dad's were always busy. Plus Whitney had a weird phase when she didn't want to hang out with Tony because he was a boy."

Pepper rolled her eyes. Though, she didn't remember Tony saying something like that to her the other day. "So what about this Jules girl."

Rhodey sighed, as if he was about to go into a long story. "It's not an easy topic to talk about."

"I figured that, Tony didn't want to talk about her either." Pepper propped her chin on her palm. "What happened to her?"

"To put it simply," Rhodey paused as he averted his eyes. "She's dead."

xXx

_Strawberry blond hair blew in the wind. Giggles rang in the air. Her hands were tightly gripped around the chain. Her feet kicked forward. "Higher!"_

"_I'm trying sweetheart," Her father said. "You're already going so high!"_

"_Higher, higher higher!" She cheered as he gave her another push. "I want to go as high as him, daddy!" _

_Two swings away, swung a boy with ebony colored hair. A woman was pushing him, and he was going so high. _

"_You're not scared anymore?" Her dad questioned the little girl. _

_She shook her head. "Nope! I'm a brave girl, daddy!" _

_Her dad shrugged his shoulders and gave her a great big push. She giggled and cheered as she swung big and high. She did it! She swung as high as that boy!_

"_I did it! Did you see daddy? I did it, I really did it!" She cheered as she swung. _

"_I saw, sweetie, you really are a brave girl." Her dad smiled. "Maybe one day you'll be just as brave as your mother."_

"_You really think so?" _

"_Yeah, I do."_

xXx

"So they met at a park?" Pepper said.

"Yeah, apparently she made a goal to go as high as Tony was going. it was later that day when he was leaving that she stopped him to say hi."

"She wanted to go as high as Tony was going? That's all?"

Rhodey shrugged. "Well, yeah. She was only five years old."

xXx

"_Hey, don't go!" The strawberry blond haired girl said, waving her arms. _

_The ebony haired boy from the swings, let go of his mothers hand to turn around. "Huh?"_

"_Don't go!" She repeated. _

_She ran up to the boy and smiled. "I'm Julie!"_

_The boy looked to his mother, as if asking permission. She nodded and he smiled back. "I'm Tony."_

"_You were really good on the swings." Julie said, her arms behind her back, sheepishly. "I went just as high as you!"_

"_Oh, you did?" _

"_I did!" _

"_Cool." _

"_Sweetheart, don't be talking to strangers!" Her dad ran up to her, panting as he looked from Julie to Tony. "Oh it's the boy you wanted to go as high on the swings."_

"_Dad, shh!" Julie said stomping her little foot._

_The boy, Tony laughed. "I saw you! You were going pretty high!"_

"_You think so?" _

"_Yeah!" _

_The girl smiled widely and looked to her dad. "Can he come to our house?"_

"_Sweetie, you don't know him?"_

"_Yes I do!" She protested. "His name is Tony!"_

"_I know who his is, I mean, you just met him." Her dad said, grabbing her hand. _

"_But I want him to play with me!" _

_Her dad looked apologetically at the boy's mother. "I'm sorry for my daughters behavior, she gets excited sometimes. My name's James." _

"_Maria," The two adults shook hands. "And don't apologize, I'm sure if my son wasn't so shy, he'd be just as excited. He's never had a friend before."_

"_Never?" Julie asked of the mother, Maria. _

_Tony shook his head in answer for his mom. "Nope." _

_She smiled at the two in front of her. "Then that's why I'll be your first!" _

_The boy's bright blue eyes lit up excitedly. "Really?"_

"_Yep, we'll be best friends!"_

_The boy looked to his mom. "Can I go to her house? Please?"_

_Maria looked to James, silently asking him if it was okay with him. He sighed, but smiled before he nodded. _

_The two kids smiled and jumped up and down, excitedly. _

xXx

"How do you know all this stuff?" Pepper asked of Rhodey when he paused.

"Tony told me all of it. In lots of detail."

"You said she was dead…?"

Rhodey looked down. "Yeah, she is. She was 10 years old."

"So then, you met her?"

"Yep. She's the one who introduced me to Tony. Of course that was after his mom...yeah…." Rhodey bit his lip.

Rhodey's phone rang, so he pulled it out of his pocket. "Hello?"

Pepper's mind spun around the story she was just told. It wasn't her business about who Tony's childhood friends were, but she was so fascinated by this Julie Farah girl. And the thought that she was dead, made her feel so bad for Tony. He'd lost his mother, then his best friend, and he thought he lost his father. It was horrible how life treated him.

"That was Tony, he's on his way over."

"Oh," Was all Pepper could say.

She wanted to hear more of the story.

**I've decided to end it there. So, what do you guys think? A little different to my other stories, don't you think? ****And please don't dislike it because it's not only Pepperony, there is a bit of Tony/OC, but there is Pepperony, so yay!**

**Fun Fact: I've lived in 9 different houses with my mom, and 5 different houses with my dad. (their divorced) So, in total I've lived in 14 different houses.**

**I'm sorry, I haven't really posted my other stories, high schools hitting me hard, and I've already gotten sick, so I haven't been able to write much more than this or the stories I'll make for my friend. But despite that, I will take on requests! So if you have any, just know I'll take 'em!**

**Hugs and Love, SilverPedals!**


	2. Chapter 2

**What is this world coming to? This is the first TRUE day I got to write. On. A. School. Day. ^.^ There has been so much homework, I'm ready to start pulling my hair. XO ****ANYWAYS, here's a nice LONG chapter that will hopefully satisfy you until I update something else. **

**Disclaimer: As usual, I OWN NOTHING. IMAA is not...so on and so on.**

Tony looked from Rhodey to Pepper and back again. Really, all that he'd done was walk through the door after a quick knock, and then they started to stare at him. Well, at least Pepper was. She looked like she was expecting something of him. Though he could see she also didn't want to hear it.

"Did something happen?" He questioned slowly, setting his backpack down.

Rhodey seemed a little more relaxed than Pepper, so it seemed right that he answered. "No, nothing happened…"

"Tell me about Julie Farah." Pepper blurted.

Tony was taken aback. "What?"

"I want to know about Julie Farah." Pepper said bluntly.

Tony took a short step back. Pepper's tone said she was either angry with him, or she was accusing him. Either way, it meant she wasn't very happy with him.

"Pep, I don't…"

She looked down, her hair covering her face. "I need to know about her. Just please, Tony?"

"Pepper…"

"I need to hear it all from you."

She didn't know why she wanted – needed – to know so about Julie Farah. She didn't know why she needed to hear it from Tony. She felt the deep desire to know this girl, this friend of Tony's. She wasn't ready to take no for an answer. She wasn't ready to not know. She needed to know, but why?

"Now's not the time, Pep." Tony said suddenly feeling uncomfortable.

"Pepper, let it go." Rhodey mumbled quietly under his breath, as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's not something he likes to talk about."

"I don't care." Pepper said snapping her shoulder from under his touch. "I need to know!"

Tony sighed and walked to one of the open seats. He sat down and took a deep breath, while Pepper settled in her own seat. Rhodey now sitting quietly, feeling awkwardly out of place. "Tony…"

"I'm fine, she says she needs to know." Tony interrupted.

Rhodey sighed, and stood up. "Well, I know where this one goes. Mind if I ditch story time?"

Tony just waved a hand and gave Pepper a light smile. "So, where were you?"

"Well…uh, we were at the end of the park on the first…"

"I see, well the playdate was pretty boring. Just kids being kids." Tony paused already losing himself in thought. "Let's see…"

xXx

"_Look!" The strawberry blond shouted, bouncing excitedly on her heels as she pointed off to a tree. _

_The ebony haired little boy stopped what he was doing to join her by her side. "What is it?"_

_The girl grabbed the boy's hand and pulled him off to the tree. She pointed to one of the lower branches that was just above their reach. "A bird's nest!" _

"_Cool!" _

"_Tony, give me a boost!" _

"_Why?"_

_She had a bright light sparkling in her eye as she smiled brightly. "I'm going to look inside of it!" _

_Tony smiled as well. He loved it when she smiled, it always made him want to smile as bright as her. Which is why he was willing to follow her anywhere. Everywhere from the park to her house, or the store, or anywhere else. Ever since that day at the park a few months ago, he was almost always with her._

_She stood in front of the branch. "Okay, I'm ready!"_

_Tony locked his arms around her waist and lifted as best he could. She moved and twisted and stretched to see inside the nest, but she was still not high enough. "Tony, go higher!" _

"_I can't!" He said, as his arms gave out. She dropped to her knees, thankfully on the soft grass. "Sorry, Jules!"_

"_You can do it! I know you can!" Julie said, smiling so wide her eyes smiled. "Just keep trying!"_

_Tony nodded, feeling proud and confident. He could do this. Jules believed he could, therefore he could. _

_Julie positioned herself in front of the branch once more before giving Tony the thumbs up. Tony bent down and locked his arms around her thighs instead of her waist and lifted. She wibbled and wobbled and almost toppled, before she steadied herself with the branch. _

_She let out an excited gasp, as she was almost amazed at what she'd seen. "Tony! There's an egg!" _

"_Really?" Tony asked, almost wishing it was he who was lifted. _

"_Yeah, I bet it's a birdie's egg!" She giggled as she watched it sit there. Then a wonderful idea popped into her head. "TONY! Let's keep it!"_

"_Keep it? Okay, that sounds like fun!" _

_She grabbed it and held it close to her as she signaled for Tony to put her down. As he did, she presented the bird egg to the young boy. _

"_Whoa!" They both said staring at the object in her hands. _

"_We should hatch it!" Jules said, already bouncing with excitement. "And then we'd get to see the birdie inside!" _

xXx

"You guys really were going to hatch a wild bird egg?" Pepper asked, lightly laughing.

Thankfully, Tony laughed as well. "Yeah, we were young. Don't tell me you didn't want to do that to?"

"Well, I did, but the only egg I got to try it on was a cooked egg from the fridge. I was quite cross with my dad for eating it too."

Tony laughed a good and true laugh and Pepper truly loved it when he laughed. It was as if his laugh was contagious. It made her want to laugh; to smile.

"Jules was the best with animals…" Tony continued.

xXx

_The two little kids sat under a play set at the park, a pile of leaves between them. On top of those leaves, lay an egg. _

"_So, what now?" Tony asked of the girl. _

"_We keep it warm." Jules said, almost like a genius. "That's what my momma always said."_

"_She must be really smart!" _

"_She is! She's the smartest momma in the world!"_

"_No, my mommy is smartester than her!" _

"_Nah-ah!" Jules argued. _

"_She's also really beautiful and pretty!" Tony added. _

"_SHH!" Jules whispered, eying the egg between them. "You'll upset our baby."_

_Tony's eyes widened. "It's not our baby!"_

"_Yeah he is! I'm the mommy, you're the daddy, and the egg is our baby!" _

_Tony was left speechless as Jules looked at him with her stubborn eyes. Her beautifully stubborn eyes. Instead of arguing it any further, he dug his finger into the ground and dragged it in circles. Mumbling a very soft "Fine" under his breath. _

_The strawberry bland shot up, and cheered softly. "We'll be the best family ever!"_

"_Jules?" A voice shouted. "Jules, time to go home!"_

_The girl's enthusiastic mood evaporated into thin air. Her excitement popping like a balloon. She eyed the egg then Tony. "What now?"_

_Tony stood up and stepped around their little next for their 'baby'. "I'm the daddy, I'll protect you." _

xXx

Pepper laughed, interrupting the story. Tony gave her a look that was a mixture of confusion and feign hurt. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, continue."

"No, I want to know what was so funny!" Tony pressed, a small smile on his face.

"It's just…what are you protecting them from? They're just going home…"

"Yeah, well we were only 5 or so years old." Tony reminded her.

Pepper rolled her eyes, but placed her head on her palm, ready to listen for more.

"Anyways…"

xXx

"_I can't believe you got him to let me sleep over!" Jules said hugging the small egg to herself. _

"_I'm the daddy, I cannot let the mommy leave me!" Tony sitting closely. _

_The strawberry blond smiled, as she cradled the fragile object in her arms. She giggled when Tony edged closer to see the egg better. So she adjusted herself so he could see more clearly. _

"_What you guys doing?" Tony's mom, Maria, questioned, poking her head into the fort they made. "I see you guys made another fort!"_

"_Yeah!" Tony cheered along with Julie._

"_What you got there?" Maria asked, crawling into the dark fort to sit next to Julie. _

_Julie held it up to the mother, "Our baby!" _

_Maria smiled. "When did you guys sneak into the fridge?"_

_Tony stubbornly shook his head. "No! We didn't steal anything from the fridge! We found it!" _

_His mother smiled. "Did you now?"_

_Jules nodded her head. "Uh-huh!"_

"_Where at?"_

"_The park." The two said simultaneously. _

_Maria paused for a moment to think as she stared at the happy kids. They seemed so happy that they found an egg. She really didn't want to burst their bubble._

"_But what about its mommy?" She tried. _

"_I'm the mommy!" Jules said. "And Tony is the daddy!"_

_Maria gave a light laugh. "And I'm sure you guys are great parents! And one day, maybe you will be, for real that is. But, I'm sure the real mommy is missing this little guy."_

_The instant she said that, multiple emotions spread through the young children. Curiosity, confusion, sadness, and even happiness. Maria could almost see the gears in their head spinning. _

"_You mean, we stole someone's baby?" Jules asked, sounding awfully upset. _

_Maria shook her head, thinking a little more on what she said next. They were children, they wouldn't understand it completely. Though, maybe Tony would, but Julie might not._

"_You didn't steal their baby, at least not on purpose…Let's see," She paused for a moment. "Take me for example. I'm a mother, Tony's is my child. What if your daddy, were to take Tony and raise him instead of me?" _

"_You'd be sad?" Tony asked, grabbing his mother's sleeve. _

"_That's right. Now, if he were to accidentally grab you and bring you home because I wasn't there to take care of you, then I'd be happy that someone was there to care for you when I couldn't."_

"_So, we're taking care of the baby when its mommy and daddy could not?" Jules asked, petting the egg that she's been keeping warm. _

_Maria smiled and nodded. "There you go!" _

_Tony grinned as well. "So we didn't stead the baby bird?"_

"_No," Maria said, shaking her head. "You didn't._

"_I hope you guys learned a valuable lesson here today, because tomorrow, I'm taking you to return the egg to its mother."_

_Both kids pouted in sadness, but they smiled soon after. "Then we can visit it every day!" Jules cheered. _

"_Yeah!" Tony shouted. _

_Maria smiled and patted the two on the head. "Well, I better go finish dinner!"_

_The mother left the fort, and Tony and Jules were left alone with the egg. There was silence for a while, but Jules soon sat up straight, and took in a breath. "I sure am excited to see how the mommy is going to react when we bring her baby back tomorrow!"_

"_Me too!_

"_You know what, one day, we'll be real mommy and daddy. We'll be married just like my momma and dada."_

_Tony was quiet for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah, and we'll be pro's at it because we've already raised a baby!" _

"_Yeah!" _

xXx

Pepper smiled into her palm. They sounded so cute together. So cute, and so…well, bondable. She wished she had that kind of relationship with Tony. She wished she was able to grow up with Tony like that. Raising a real bird egg sounded like tons of fun. Not to mention his mom…

"She sounds like an amazing person." Pepper said, more to herself than to Tony. "You must have been really close…"

Tony looked down, hiding whatever emotion he must have been showing. For some reason, Pepper just wanted to give him a hug and say that she was there. She would always be there for him, no matter what.

But she didn't.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

"No, it's fine. I'm over it."

It was a lie. A total complete lie. He wasn't over it. Obviously, he wasn't close to being over it. It sounds harsh to say so, but she hopes he never does. If he gets over it, what if he forgets who Julie Farah was? What if he just lets her slip from him memory?

Pepper didn't say anything. She wasn't going to make it worse than it already is. She already made him tell her the story, so she wasn't going to push it.

"It's been over seven years," Tony whispered. "And I'm still not over it."

Pepper scooted over so she was next to him on her chair. She placed a comforting hand to his shoulders, and just laid her head down.

"Let's take a break."

"Let's."

**I just thought that was too cute! In my opinion at least! I remember when I was little I would carry around an egg from the fridge, and pretend I was it's mom. Though, my big bro always threw it at the sidewalk... -_-**

**POLL TIME! Yep, once again, I've opened up a poll. For some reason I just LOVE polls. So go check it out! :D I think you guys will like this one. It's for sequels and new chapters!**

**Fun Fact: _I LOVE COFFEEE! Too bad, I have a humongous caffine crash in the middle of the day..._**

**I'm very much beat from pushing 135 lbs WITHOUT weights included for leg extensions for P.E. Now I cannot feel my legs very much...**

**Well, Hugs and Love, SilverPedals!**


End file.
